In a conventional method of internal communication within a business compound, voice communications have been provided by a PBX (private branch exchange) accommodating voice telephones, and data communications have been provided by a LAN, independently from each other. Along with a decline in prices of personal computers (referred to as PCs hereinafter) and higher performance thereof, the PCs have become popularized as much as ordinary voice telephones, particularly, in recent times. Consequently, an environment wherein voice telephones are integrated into a LAN has come to be desired for internal communication within a business compound.
The conventional method of internal communication within a business compound has however had the following problem.
In spite of an attempt to integrate an infrastructure for internal communication within a business compound by incorporating voice telephones into a LAN, it has been difficult to implement such integration because a the peculiarity of ‘voice’ such as periodicity and need for real time response contradicts characteristics of data communications such as burst and high reliability. As a result, facilities for both a PBX and a LAN have been required, accompanied by installation of two wiring systems.
It is therefore an object of the invention to integrate the infrastructure for the internal communication within a business compound into a LAN so that the voice telephones can be incorporated therein without need for the PBX.